Book Review-The-Immortality-Curse

The Immortality Curse

by

Greig Beck

(Matt Kearns #3)

 

Greig Beck always writes an enjoyable novel.  However, The Immortality Curse was better than one or two recent reads in as much as there were no real monsters starring in this book.  True, with a title like The Immortality Curse there just had to be one or two lurking around.

As a result of a few frames on a phone camera which survive incineration at a murder scene, Matt is put into contact with the main victim’s centenarian widow.  He had disappeared some seventy-five years early and he still looked, momentarily, the same age as when he disappeared.  He had been in search of the Fountain of Youth.

Shortly thereafter, as the title implies we find language specialist Matt Kearns, and colleagues, in pursuit of the Fountain of Youth.  Their search takes them to the wilderness of Canada’s north then on to Africa’s Lake Chad, which by powers of deduction and science they decide this was where Noah and his family lived during the Great Flood.  And where, naturally, Noah’s ark is to be found, along with any Fountain of Youth.

Naturally there are the usual twists along the way.  And what relic, either the Ark or the Fountain of Youth, would not have someone or something guarding it all these years.

A thoroughly enjoyable book made all the better by Sean Mangan’s narration.   All fans of Greig Beck and Sean Mangan will enjoy The Immortality Curse.  Published on 28 March 2017 I am surprised that so few Goodreads Readers have rated and reviewed The Immortality Curse.

As of May 06, 2018 very few GoodReads readers have either read, rated or reviewed The Immortality Curse.

******

I think

The Immortality Curseis a solid

read.

Goodreads readers have rated

The Immortality Curse

 an average of 4.13 stars from

184 ratings and 14 reviews.

The Immortality Curse

can be purchased on-line at

Fishpond, Booktopia, and Amazon

 

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Book Review-Fathomless

Fathomless

by

Greig Beck

 

Fathomless was definitely not my first Greig Beck novel, however, I did think it would be my last for while…. until…I digress.

For the first half or so of Fathomless I was definitely thinking that I had had enough of the world’s underwater monsters.  I think I have  five or six books now in which several  authors have set their story underground in different parts of the world.   At this stage Fathomless was only a three star read.  If it was your first novel of this genre then I believe you would be considering it a four or five-star read.  However, it was not my first.

 

Again we were underground in a world inhabited by what only can be described as monsters.  There was a great deal of Ho!  Hum!…at that stage.  We all know that some of the good guys survive.  They have to.  Who else would tell the tale?

This is the second book I have read, in 2018, where it appeared the story was over and the rest of the book would be acknowledgements…lots and lots.   Again I was wrong.  The twist which boosts a book from ordinary to wow was played.

Woven into this work of fact/fiction are the actions of a group of people who have a single-minded attitude to their cause and are not always correct as they believe.  I really wanted to throttle some of these characters.  Their arrogance was overwhelming and all I could think was that good should prevail.

 

Then just when you thought that the story had finished there is another, perhaps not a twist so much as a, revelation which is enough to make lovers of the sea to think twice before going for a swim.  Combine this revelation with some scientific facts and this reader’s thoughts were off on another journey; particularly as some of the revelations took place not far from where I have spent most of my life.

Again kudos to Sean Mangan for another five star narration.  He made the audio version of Fathomless an ideal book to listen to while driving.

 

Fathomless is a reasonably fast paced book and one which all fans of Grieg beck, will enjoy.

******

I think

Fathomless

is a solid

read.

Goodreads readers have rated

Fathomless

 an average of 3.99 stars from

394 ratings and 55 reviews.

Fathomless

can be purchased on-line at

Fishpond, Booktopia, and Amazon

 

Book Review-The-Baby-Farm

The Baby Farm

(Broken Vows Trilogy Book 2)

by

Marty Langenberg

The Baby Farm is the second book the Broken Vows Trilogy by Marty Langenberg and follows book 1.5, Pennie, the Prequel to The Baby Farm.

I have already stated in my review of Pennie that I am not a fan of short stories, however in this instance, while not completely necessary to read Pennie prior to The Baby Farm, Pennie does fill in some otherwise unknown detail of Pennie’s life and how she arrived at this point in her life.  Also bear in mind that Pennie was introduced in Book 1 of the Broken Vows Trilogy with her character being further developed in Pennie, Book 1.5.

For many years in Australia we have heard of the stolen generation. The ‘stolen generation’ being children of native Australians who were removed from their parents by the government of the day to be raised and educated by white Australian standards.

What has often annoyed me is the fact that there were/are many generations of white Australian children in the same position who are never described as stolen by society simple because they were children primarily of unwed teenage mothers. It was not until the early seventies that I first saw an unwed teenage mother with her child around my home town.

Prior to then girls often disappeared for a few months, usually to a capital city where they had their babies delivered and adopted.  Society of the time decreed they had brought shame on their families.

In writing The Baby Farm, Marty has addressed this issue head on.  The Baby Farm describes in detail what occurred to some of our young teenage/unmarried mothers of that era.  He has delved into the trauma these mothers underwent and also described the deviousness of people working in the name of religion, God and in this case St. Gerard (protector of mothers and children), to ‘help’ these mothers.

Thankfully there were some characters who offered real help and assistance to Pennie and her friend (Heather), preferring to see the real person and not forming an opinion based on current circumstances.

The Baby Farm is another fast paced read and one which again will have readers wanting to know what is going to happen in the next chapter.

Finally, I must declare that I know and worked with Marty

for several years before he retired.

However, I believe this has not clouded my review.

 

Definitely a

read.

Broken Vows

can be purchased on-line at 

Amazon, Barnes & Noble,

Kobo, OverDrive

 

Book Review-Pennie

Pennie

(Broken Vows Trilogy #1.5)

by

Marty Langenberg

Pennie is a prequel to The Baby Farm which is book 2 of the Broken Vows trilogy and tells us of Pennie’s background; the how and why she came to be in Orange (New South Wales) in Book 1, Broken Vows.

Before proceeding any further I must state that I am not a fan of short stories.  Any I have read seem to pique my interest and the next page, like a Perry Mason script (which shows my age), the story ends in a few sentences.

 My initial reaction to Pennie was that I had read much of this before either from the blurb or as Pennie retold her story to Steve/Des in Broken Vows.

Pennie became more interesting as it progressed to Pennie’s hitchhiking days and as mentioned previously ended rather abruptly.  I do hope Pennie’s character is featured in later books as I think she could be expanded upon and interesting story lines could revolve around her.

Pennie was an enjoyable read and worthy of a solid three star rating.

At the time of writing no other Goodreads Readers had rated or reviewed Pennie.

 A solidread.

Pennie

can be purchased on-line at 

Amazon, Barnes & Noble,

Kobo, OverDrive

I must declare that I know and worked with Marty for several years before his retirement.  Little did I know he was a closet author. 🙂  However, my review is genuine…as are all my reviews.  

Book Review-Broken-Vows

Broken Vows

(Broken Vows Trilogy Book 1)

by

Marty Langenberg

Before I go any further I must declare that I know and worked with Marty for several years before he retired.  However, I believe this has not clouded my review. 

‘Broken Vows’ is Book 1 of the ‘Broken Vows Trilogy’.  ‘Broken Vows’ refers to the vows of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience, which Catholic priests take, before they are ordained.

 

The opening of ‘Broken Vows’ sees three young men studying to be  priests and discussing, at length, the meaning of these Vows.  To say they come up with some interesting definitions of each Vow is understatement.  These definitions combined with the Bishop’s view of simply moving priests to another parish when their warped proclivities were discovered and reported, provides an interesting opening to ‘Broken Vows’

 

 ‘Broken Vows’ is about these priests and a family with three boys at a Catholic boy’s boarding school in a time when children were to be seen and not heard.  The seen and not heard comment applied especially if the child’s actions or thoughts could bring humiliation on family or school.  The boys’ father often used the phrase “…these things don’t happen in Catholic schools…” and was more concerned with his family’s public persona than his boy’s well-being.  This attitude resulted in the worst possible outcome for the family…followed by their eldest son leaving school without a word to anyone.

 

‘Broken Vows’ was a bit close to home for me for various reasons.  I did attend a Catholic all boys’ boarding school during the sixties.   Staff names were similar to some of those appearing in ‘Broken Vows’.  We also had several boys disappear overnight as in ‘Broken Vows’.  We all believed the version of their absence provided by the Rector without question.  I don’t know of any rumours that may link any of our staff to the ‘Broken Vows’ activities.  But how would we have known?  Asking the Rector would have been out of the question.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed ‘Broken Vows’ and scenarios put forward by Marty.  I felt ‘Broken Vows’ was fast paced and it was definitely one of those books which saw me wanting to read on into the early hours of the morning.

 

Attending a Catholic Boarding School is not a pre-requisite to enjoy ‘Broken Vows’.  ‘Broken Vows’ could have been set within any Denomination and still been an enjoyable read.

I have already read and reviewed ‘Pennie’, a short story prequel to Book 2 of the Broken Vows Trilogy.   May I suggest you do likewise?

I have rated ‘Broken Vows’ a solid four star read and added one more for an outstanding debut novel.

To date, no other Goodreads readers have rated or reviewed ‘Broken Vows’.

 Aread.

Broken Vows

can be purchased on-line at 

Amazon, Barnes & Noble,

Kobo, OverDrive

 

Book Review-A-Head-Full-of-Ghosts

A Head Full of Ghosts

by

Paul Tremblay

A Head Full of Ghosts was one of those books you wonder what possessed you to borrow it….almost from the first paragraph.

However the stubborn streak in me ensured that I persisted for nearly an hour and I was still none the wiser regarding what the plot, if any was about.  The author seemed ramble on and on about the main character and her sister.

Again, I note, this story was being told by the main character and books written in the first person should be avoided in my humble opinion.

The five or six chapters of A Head Full of Ghosts was disjointed to say the least.  However, I have just read the blurb again online and the lead character, fourteen year old, Marjorie apparently displays signs of schizophrenia.  Marjorie’s condition gets worse, a priest try to help out and fifteen years later the younger sister is interviewed about Marjorie’s illness and its effects on the family.

Most of the previous paragraph can be found in the blurb as I did not stick around long enough to get to fifteen years later.  One thing I have noted on the blurb is that Stephen King described the book as ‘…scaring the hell  out of me…’  I am a Stephen King fan but will not be drawn in by blurbs any more.   However, schizophrenia is a scary illness.

I am joining just 2% (429) other Goodreads readers who rated A Head Full of Ghosts in this category.

Maybe I will try it again another day.

I have rated

A Head Full of Ghosts

 

as aread.

My one star certainly runs against the tide of

Goodreads readers have rated

A Head Full of Ghosts

an average of 3.81 stars from 20,754 ratings and 3,324 reviews

A Head Full of Ghosts

can be purchased on-line at

Fishpond, Booktopia and Amazon

 

Book Review-Kraken-Rising

Kraken Rising

(Alex Hunter #6)

by

Greig Beck

 

I once read an author’s review of his book, set in Antarctica, in which he stated that a continent largely unexplored could be the setting for all manner of books.  It may have been Alex Hunter’s first visit to the Antarctic continent.  I do not remember.

Kraken Rising has been sitting on my reading list for some time now and I am not sure why I did not read it at an earlier date.  Kraken Rising has all the pace and intrigue as any of Greg Beck’s previous books.

With the world on the brink of nuclear war it is up to Arcadian and his team to save the day.  And it is not only the world Arcadian is trying to save this time round, it is also the mother of his son who has been sent to Antarctica find Arcadian who is of prime concern.

Likening the monster to modern day animal was a stroke of genius and I don’t think I will ever go near the beach again.  Cephalopods, at least the octopus, do have a beak and when this monster’s beak came chasing our heroes…well, just close your eyes and imagine.

Throw in reports of missing ships, boats and sailors in Australia’s Bass Strait, a Strait which has never been more than a forty-minute drive from home, and we have enough facts to substantiate another great plot.

******

I think

Kraken Rising

 

is a

read.

In 2017,

Goodreads readers have rated

Kraken Rising

 an average of 4.24 stars from

531 ratings and 54 reviews.

I am also surprised that so few have bothered

to rate and review this novel.

 

Kraken Rising

can be purchased on-line at

Fishpond, Booktopia, and Amazon